Saturday, July 28, 2012

Looking for a podcast about World of Warcraft battle pets? Well look no further! Alludra and Kephas have got you covered. They have created an excellent podcast covering the battle pets niche within World of Warcraft. Be sure to check out Battle Pets With Alludra and Kephas. Their brand new World of Warcraft podcast is both entertaining and informative.

Alludra and Kephas do a great job explaining the battle pet system coming to WoW in Mists of Pandaria. Both of the show's hosts are previous Pokemon fans and they are both currently playing with their battle pets within the MoP Beta, which allows them to bring an insider's perspective to the podcast. Both Alludra and Kephas are members of the Horde faction, but fear not. The Kephas has authorized Alliance players to listen to the show too!

Kephas and Alludra work well together as a hosting pair. It is easy to hear their excitement for the battle pets coming through the podcast. I learned more from their 30 minute debut episode than I've learned reading all about the battle pet system. I hope there are many more future episodes to come!

If you check out their show and enjoy it, be sure to leave them feedback on the site and drop them an iTunes review. Quality feedback is important for new podcasters, because its hard to gauge listener reactions without feedback. So be sure to let them know what you think and let them know I sent you to their show.

Friday, July 27, 2012

There is quite a buzz surrounding the new battle pet system coming in Mists of Pandaria. Only 90 of the current WoW companion pets are going to become rare (blue) quality battle pets, once all of the current companions get converted. Many of the pets on the Master Rare Pet List are either very hard to obtain, currently unattainable, or cost real world cash to purchase.

Let's take a deeper look at the pets that come from the WoW Trading Card Game. Every one of the TCG pets are being convereted to rare pets for the new pet battle system, which means their value has seen an immediate increase following their addition to the rare list of battle pets.

There are 14 companion pets from the various WoW TCG expansions that are currently on the master list of current pets that will become rare. Any future WoW TCG pets that area released in later WoW TCG expansions will also be rare pets. One of the current 14 on the list is a pet coming out in the next TCG expansion.

I have already given away a few companion pets to readers of Cold's Gold Factory that subscribe to the blog newsletter. More companion pets will be awarded to newsletter subscribers in the future, so be sure to sign up for your chance at a free rare pet code in addition to getting each and every post written here delivered to you via email.

WoW TCG Pet Loot Codes From Amazon.com

I buy my pet codes from Amazon.com and have never had a problem. All pet codes come via mail and are the original unscratched cards with intact codes. You scratch the card to reveal the code yourself, then etner the code on the WoW TCG website to get your in game loot code. You take the in game code to Landro Longshot in Booty Bay to claim your companion pets.

Pet codes from the WoW TCG can be used in the US and EU regions. Both regions can buy and redeem the same codes, but when you redeem the card's code for the in game code, you must specify what region (EU or US) you plan to claim the code in. Then your in game code is only usable in the region that you registered it in, so be careful and make sure you claim it for the correct gaming region!

NOTE: Timewalkers: Reign of Fire Expansion

The Reign of Fire expansion for the WoW trading card game has released on July 23rd, 2013. The Reign of Fire expansion contains no new loot cards, instead this new expansions includes every loot card every previously released! And they have upped the drop rates of the loot cards, so you have even better chances to pull loot codes out of the boosters!

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Companion pets are converting to battle pets in Mists of Pandaria. Some pets will become rare battle pets and will be blue in color. These are the main pets to focus on collecting and stockpiling for Mists of Pandaria. As I discussed in yesterday's post on liquidating your holiday pets, rare pets will have more stats and will be more powerful. This will create more demand for the rare pets as they simply are just better stat wise and level faster than non-rare pets.

Many of the current companion pets that are becoming rare battle pets are very hard to obtain. Many of them require cash for their purchase or are awarded from hard achievements, token grinds, or very rare world drops within the World of Warcraft. Let's dig deeper into the list of companion pets turning rare and find their sources.

Identifying The Sources For The 90 Rare Converting Pets

5 Are Obtained From Archaeology

Clockwork Gnome

Crawling Claw

Fossilized Hatchling

Pterrodax Hatchling

Voodoo Figurine

Looking for a reason to resume leveling up your Archaeology profession? Well, here's five reasons and account wide mounts are also coming in MoP, so you can get that Fossilized Raptor mount for all your characters too.

7 Come From Fishing

Chuck - (Outlands Fishing Dailies)

Muckbreath - (Outlands Fishing Dailies)

Snarly - (Outlands Fishing Dailies)

Toothy - (Outlands Fishing Dailies)

Strand Crawler (Northrend, Orgrimmar, & Stormwind Dailies)

Giant Sewer Rat (Fished Up In Dalaran Underbelly)

Magical Crawdad (Wish Granted From Mr. Pinchy)

I plan to level the Magical Crawdad From Mister Pinchy first and foremost as my main battle pet, since he has always been my favorite companion pet and he made the rare pet conversion list.

Running out of bank space to store all the pets you've collected? Just go ahead and learn them on an alt and try to get extras of these collector achievements on multiple characters. They will save you storage space, you will get them refunded back to you, and you may just pick up an extra skunk, fawn, or squirrel to sell come Mists of Pandaria.

11 Are Purchased From The Blizzard Store

Wind Rider Cub - $24.99

Gryphon Hatchling - $24.99

Guardian Cub - $10

Cenarian Hatchling - $10

Lil' KT - $10

Lil' Ragnaros - $10

Lil' XT - $10

Moonkin Hatchling - $10

Pandaren Monk - $10

Soul of the Aspects - $10

Core Hound Pup - $6.50

Blizzard controls the price on these, but don't forget thatyou can use your Diablo 3 RMAH earnings to purchase these. ("Maybe in the future" they will allow Battle net balance purchases.) Guardian Cub is still BoE and can also be picked off of the auction house.

8 Come From Collector's Editions

Panda Cub (World of Warcraft CE)

Netherwhelp (Burning Crusade CE)

Lurky (Burning Crusade CE) EU Only

Frost (Wrath of the Lich King CE)

Lil' Deathwing (Cataclysm CE)

Lucky Quilen Cub (Mists of Pandaria CE) MoP

Mini-Thor (Starcraft II CE)

Fetish Shaman (Diablo 3 CE)

Yet another reason that Collector's Editions may see a spike in demand. Flipping Collector's Editions For Profit is something that some players do to use their goblin wisdom to turn a profit in the real world.

6 Are Purchased With Prize Tickets (90) At The Darkmoon Faire

Darkmoon Balloon

Darkmoon Cub

Darkmoon Monkey

Darkmoon Tonk

Darkmoon Turtle

Darkmoon Zeppelin

You've got just a couple more Darkmoon Faires to finish collecting tokens and get more pets before Mists of Pandaria will be here on September 25th, 2012.

6 Are From BlizzCon or Blizzard Worldwide Invitationals

Murky (BlizzCon 2005)

Lucky (Blizzard WWI 2007)

Mini Tyrael (Blizzard WWI 2008)

Grunty (BlizzCon 2009)

Deathy (BlizzCon 2010)

Murkablo (BlizzCon 2011)

Good luck finding these codes. If you do, the prices have probably already gone up even higher with them making the rares list.

3 Are Gated Behind The Molten Front Dailies

Crimson Lasher - (1200 gold)

Hyjal Bear Cub - (1200 gold)

Searing Scorchling - (Zen'Vorka's Cache)

As if the grind to unlock the vendors wasn't enough torture, you can continue running the daily quests and buying the Cache in hopes of this rare pet being inside.

2 Are WoW Anniversary Rewards

Baby Blizzard Bear (WoW 4th Anniversary)

Onyxian Whelpling (WoW's 5th Anniversary)

If you don't already have them, you aren't getting them.

14 Are Rare Drops

Azure Whelpling

Crimson Whelpling

Dark Whelpling

EmeraldWhelpling

Firefly

Fox Kit

Gundrak Hatchling

Hyacinth Macaw

Razzashi Hatchling

Sprite Darter Hatchling

Phoenix Hatchling

Disgusting Oozeling

Mr. Grubbs

Tiny Shale Spider

These are some of the best ones on the list to look out for on the auction house as many of these are BoE. Maybe you can grab some extras before others realize they are on the master rare battle pet list. Here are a few tips to help farming for dragon whelplings.

The only way to get these loot codes is to play the loot code lottery by buying TCG packs or buying the codes from eBay, Amazon, or other retailers. OR you could also get lucky and win a code from a giveaway or contest.

There you have it folks. The master companion list of pets turning into rare battle pets has been broken down to show you what the sources are for all of these pets. Be sure to stock up on whatever you can find and don't forget that you can collect these on multiple characters and they will be mailed back to you once Mists of Pandaria launches in late Septemeber.

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Remember when the World of Warcraft Pet Battle System was originally announced at Blizzcon? If you are like me, then the first thing you thought of wasn't Pokemon. We all had visions of making tons of gold off of this new system in WoW. This would be yet another arsenal in our bag of tricks. Battle Pets were supposed to be our cash crop once the Mists of Pandaria expansion would launch.

Companion pets would be more than just vanity items. Then we found out that we could level these pets and we would be able to sell them. Yes! Cha-ching! More $ $ flashed across our minds as higher level pets would obviously sell for more gold on the WoW auction house or in trade chat. This new pet battle system was going to be a great new way to make gold off of other players by selling both new and leveled battle pets. So we all started to stock up on pets, especially the harder to obtain companion pets. Pets that are rare drops or were awarded from annual events seemed like no brainers to stockpile, as we would be able to flip them for more gold once the pet battle system increased the demand for all pets.

Some of us started to collect bank tabs full of these rare, limited, or hard to obtain pets because they were going to make us rich.

BUT...

At the time, we knew very little at all about the actual pet battle system. So we were basing our ideas off of speculation, which is always a gamble. Speculating ahead of the general populace can lead you to great payoffs, if you are correct at predicting change. If the changes don't go as predicted, you can lose out on your investments. Well, we now have more news on the pet battle systems coming in MoP and that news is less than favorable. Looking at the current pet battle system, there are some major winners and a ton of losers. This was a hot topic we were excited to discuss when Auction House Junkies returned to recording. It's time to liquidate a lot of these pets before the market prices bottom out. Let's look deeper as to why.

Holiday Pets - Get Out Now

Since companion pets are all going to be on a shared battle pet interface, we wondered what was going to happen if you had duplicate pets on multiple characters. The current plan is that duplicates will be returned to your characters via the the mail system or the extra pets would be placed in your bags. This is bad news for anyone expecting to flip these holiday pets for great sums of gold. Any of the holiday pets that are easily obtainable need to be liquidated now before the expansion. There will be a flood of holiday pets into the market and you will have to wait far too long for the market to rebound to a nice profit. Sell for a profit now, while you still can. You can still sell these to people who hav

Just think of how many alts you have that have those holiday pets, like the first holiday pet to go BoE - the Sinister Squashling. Helper Boxes? How many of those things do you have on alts? Yeah, so does everyone else! And Mists will launch shortly before the new Winter's Veil Season begins and even more Christmas pets enter the market. Get out now, before the pet refunds come and the markets get flooded.

We discussed it in this last Sunday's Google Plus Gold Makers Hangout, which can be viewed on YouTube here: http://t.co/QXkf3qQ. Be sure to check them out.

Not All Pets Are Created Equal

With the pet battle system comes a system for placing quality variations among the battle pets. The standard grey-white-green-blue system is used for all battle pets, both captured and learned. Rare pets are blue in color and can be captured in the wild. Rare pets all have an advantage over non-rare pets. The rare battle pets level more quickly and their end stats are higher than all non-rare battle pets. The rare pets are the most valuable and will be the best pets for leveling and selling for a profit. They will also be the most sought after by true pet battle masters that are looking to maximize their team of battle pets.

Be sure to check out the list and see just how few you actually have. Don't get your hopes up. Many of these are hard to get or cost you money. Sure we all will have a few on the list, but there aren't a lot of us that will have duplicates of these unless we've been stockpiling rare pets or pay for pets from Blizzard. I wonder if you get just 1 of the store bought pets, instead of one mailed back for every character that has one? Argent Tournaments are not going to be blue rare pets as they are not on the list. Make sure to check out the list of companions that are turning rare. I suggest you shift your pet stockpiling to only these pets. These are the new cash crop to stock up on as they will be blue rares, more powerful, and more valuable.

You can start to search for the BoE pets on the auction house, but also you can start to collect multiples of the pets that are awarded from completions as well. Then the duplicates will be mailed back to you when Mists launches.

I've been gambling on Elementium Geodes and have been stocking up on them hoping they would see a nice increase in value. Cha-Ching! They made the list!

You won't be making gold off any of the battle pets you capture in the wild as Blizzard announced that captured battle pets will not be tradeable. This change is coming in the next Beta patch. In my opinion this is good. It keeps the auction house from being flooded with tons of junk pets and it creates more of a value to the companion pets that are currently available, especially those that are turning rare! I did say start stocking up on the pets on that list right? Only the current companion pets will be able to be leveled, then caged and then sold. So stock up on those ones turning rare!

Saturday, July 21, 2012

The Auction House Junkies World of Warcraft Gold Making Podcast is back up and running. After a few months break, we have resurrected the podcast and will be putting out more episodes again. There is already a brand new episode up on the Auction House Junkies site and as always, we are still available on iTunes.

For the new readers and newer WoW players who haven't heard of our WoW gold making podcast, The Auction House Junkies podcast is all about making gold in World of Warcraft. Wes, Mike, and I discuss various methods, strategies, and markets for making gold in WoW. We cover all professions and pretty much all markets get discussed in one episode or another. We help you with new expansion stockpiling, battling your competition, provide our "Markets of the Week", and we will continually have you thinking on your toes about making gold in WoW.

Since the beginning of the show, we have always strived to be an informative, yet entertaining podcast. If you like the show and we've helped you make more gold in WoW, then please leave us a review on iTunes.

Auction House Junkies Episode #29

In this episode we get back on track with discussin making gold in WoW and hit on the following topics and many others.

If you haven't heard any of the podcast episodes before, be sure to check us out. The great thing about our shows is that the majority of the topics and content discussed can be applied to multiple auction house markets regardless of when the episodes originally came out. So you can go back and listen to the older episodes and still come away with new ideas on making gold in WoW. Currently we are a 3 host show, but originally it was just Wes and I. So don't be shocked if you don't hear Mike in the earlier episodes. He joined Wes and I around episode 16 or 17.

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

The Eviscerated Gaming Podcast

with R9z, Cold and Nic

The Eviscerated Gaming Podcast has been a ton of fun to record and produce for all of our listeners. The show continues to be popular on both iTunes and Stitcher Radio and can also be streamed straight from the website at Eviscerated.net. Have you check out our new show? What are you waiting for?

As I've mentioned before, when The Eviscerated Gaming Podcast original episode came out, we talk about not just World of Warcraft, but also Diablo 3, Starcraft 2, and many other games. We have Diablo 3 and WoW news and discussions in every episode and we also present a lot of general gaming news, information on recent sales (like the Steam Sale), new product launches, and even include some oddball news about zombie attacks, bath salts, selling your soul on eBay, and gamers who go crazy. Hell, in this episode we even discuss the craziness that is the Pacu fish, a testicle eating fish that has been found in US lakes! (See the top image of this post)

So don't be afraid to come check out The Eviscerated Gaming Podcast, as we are a general gaming podcast with tons of discussion, storytelling, and fun for everyone!

At the end of each episode, I also have my Electronic Education sessions. These closing music segments are designed to help increase exposure of my favorite types of music, Electronic Dance Music (EDM). This has been absolutely amazing for me to be able to not only be able to share the music that I am so passionate about, but to also convert new fans to the EDM genre. Creating the Electronic Education sessions has been awesome. So far we've heard about Dubstep, Trance, House, Electro, Metalectro, Lovestep/Emostep, Sub-Bass, and many other styles of EDM. If you like the segment, be sure to follow me on twitter at @ElectronicEDM. I link up mixes and tracks, my Pandora stations, and retweet news and pics from DJs on twitter. Come groove with me.

For Episode #10 of The Eviscerated Gaming Podcast we released an entire episode of all of the Electronic Education sessions back to back. So if you want to get caught up on all the episodes of Electronic Education, then be sure to check out:

The Eviscerated Gaming Podcast Episode #12 "Warcraft Rage"

This episode was a lot of fun to record and it shows in the final product. There wasn't a lot of news to cover or discuss this week, so we discussed a lot from our backgrounds as gamers. We cover all sorts of online and console games and I tended to get a little excited with my story telling. LOL, but it makes for a great listen. Check out this episode, regardless of whatever game you prefer to play, because we hit on damn near everything! Nic's wife also submits a pretty sweet Eviscerated Mobile Gaming Minute segment where she recommends some smartphone games each week, which is Scummy's favorite part of the show!

In Episode #12 we discuss:

World of Warcraft

Diablo 3

Gold Tips

Pet Battles

Testicle Eating Fish

The Steam Sale

Another Warcraft Stabbing

More Zombie Origin Debates

How I Killed An Entire City

Gaming Horror Stories

Our Very First Games

What Do We Want From Titan?

Crazy Stories In Gaming

Tons More

This episode we also issue out the listener question:

"What Would Be Your Coolest Idea For An MMO? What would you want Titan to be, if it could be anything? What genre, play style, character build, or anything would be your most awesomest creation if it could be anything? Let us know!

If you don't have your own site, you can still participate in the gold blogging carnivals. Sometimes a topic may tickle your fancy or you may have a unique spin on a blogging carnival topic that you would like to have read by others. Well, you are in luck. There are 2 blogging sites that will post and host your content as a guest post. Just follow the normal blogging carnival rules that the others follow and get your post hosted and live prior to the carnival. Then, just submit the link to me for inclusion in the upcoming gold blogging carnival.

As WoW gold makers, we must be flexible and adapt our posting, pricing, and relisting strategies based on the individual markets. Every server is different, yet within the same server, each market can be completely different as well. For the August Gold Blogging Carnival Topic, let's illustrate some of the ways we post differently based on the different profession markets. Compare & Contrast 2 Different AH Markets and How Your Gold Making Strategy Varies In Each Market

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Everyone has heard the common economics standard of Buy Low, Sell High. However, there are some auctioneers in WoW and Diablo 3 that will tell you that the time tested fundamental economic principle of Buying Lowing & Selling High is a farce that doesn't work. Well, it's been the standard of basic profiteering for centuries. So I'm calling bullshit on your Buy Low, Sell Normal mantra, when you claim it is better than Buy Low, Sell High.

All basic money making can be simplified to Buy For X, and Sell For More Than X. That sale will turn you a profit. All you need to do is sell the item for more than you paid for it. That's what Buy Low, Sell High means. Selling for higher than the lower price you bought it for, regardless of the market price for that item.

So What Is Buy Low, Sell Normal?

Buy Low, Sell Normal is supposed to be "the best way to operate as an auctioneer" as the followers of this belief tell you to "Sell at normal value, no higher than what the item usually goes for." These Buy Low, Sell Normal types, think you will make more profits by selling more items at a lower cost. The basic backbone of any discussion about this comparison references that is how Walmart operates, by Buying Low & Selling Normal.

Sure, Walmart has lots of sales and cheap prices too, but as gold and money makers in Diablo 3 and World of Warcraft, we aren't Walmart. We don't have a huge staff working under us. We are just 1 person trying to turn a profit on an in-game auction house. Walmart makes their money by coming into and forcing out all of the smaller companies that can't compete with their prices. Some of their items they actually sell below their cost, so others have no chance to compete. This serves to limit their competition and force others out of the market, but how profitable of a strategy is selling at a loss or for minimal profits in an online virtual environment?

So you bought or crafted an item at a low price, how much do you want to sell it for?

Well, I am a member of Generation X and I tend to go by the typical Gen-X mantra of "Getting the most money, for the least amount of work." See that's the problem with the Buy Low, Sell Normal philosophy. By selling at minimal profits, you may get more sales, but are those minimal profits worth your time and effort? I'd rather sell less items for more profit per item, which results in less time recrafting, recollecting, and reposting.

Sell Normal Or Sell High In The Glyph Market?

The WoW Glyph Market has a polarizing effect on most of the sellers within that market. Either they are willing to dance or they aren't. But because of the foolish teachings of some bloggers who've preach about Buying Low and Selling Normal, the Glyph market can be an absolute nightmare for some sellers as we've been discussing on some episodes of The Eviscerated Gaming Podcast.

A good example is between the 2 main strategies of Glyph sellers.

Option 1 - Craft & Sell as many Glyphs as possible (market blanketing), all for a bare minimum profit, to keep competition away. Often using heavy undercutting (another foolish strategy in my opinion) and walling of low priced items in hopes of driving out competition. This is often referred to as the Walmart Glyph Model. - Sell Normal

Option 2 - Craft & Sell only Glyphs when they reach a nice threshold worth your time and effort. Nev of Auction House Addict was the first to discuss this philosophy on the PW:Gold Podcast. Don't even bother with a glyph unless it is selling for 100 gold or more. - Sell High

With Nev's Glyph Strategy, you still make plenty of gold and have far much less work to do to restock and relist. And you are free of the headache of massive dog fight wars of undercutting, glyph walling, and other time inefficient strategies. Often times, you will still makes sales because not everyone has all glyph recipes and there are times when all of the low priced ones will be gone. If I can sell glyphs for 250 gold, why the hell would I waste time fighting to sell them for 12 gold each to make a few gold per sale?

Why Buy Low, Sell Normal?

So why would someone even want to create a Buy Low, Sell Normal idea? It was a blogger who coined the notion and even refers to it as his "catch phrase". The entire notion is based on foolish logic and trying to disprove a time weathered basic principal of economic theory. The whole Buy Low, Sell Normal idea was nothing more than an online marketing ploy created by an internet salesmen trying to stir up his own "catch phrase" to discuss and quote on various blogs and podcasts all to drive traffic to his sites. Then people want to hear how Buy Low, Sell Normal is so much better than Buy Low, Sell High and they head to his sites, where he tries to sell them his latest Secret Gold Guides. In all reality Buy Low, Sell Normal is nothing more than a hype generating gimmick of an internet con-man. It's nothing more than a tagline and sales gimmick.

So be smart and get the most from each and every sale. Why leave money on the table?

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Welcome to another 2012 edition of Cold's Gold Blogging Carnival. These carnivals will continue to take place the 11th day of every month and will be hosted here at Cold's Gold Factory. All World of Warcraft bloggers are welcome to participate and feedback both here and on the original authors' sites is strongly encouraged. So show some support and please leave some feedback in the comments section. These bloggers put a lot of time and hard work into these blogging carnival posts so please tell them what you think.

If you would like to be included in the next month's carnival, please review the guidelines for Cold's Gold Blogging Carnivals and submit your live post link via email (ssmith0911 at live dot com) before the 10th of the month. Read up on the benefits of participating in blogging carnivals at my other blog designed to help new bloggers, Blogging Vitals. (Lots of tips for those of you starting out or interested in blogging.) Articles for the CGF carnival are listed in the order they are received. Thank you to all the bloggers participating in this months carnival!

If you are not a blogger, you can still participate in the monthly carnivals as you can have a post hosted at Goldgrubs.com. Now I present to you this month's participants answering the question:

What Do You Recommend Players Do During The Current WoW Lull To Benefit Gold Making In The Future?

Thanks again to all of this month's participants. Be sure to check back later for next month's carnival topic and remember to look for next month's gold blogging carnival on the 11th. If you have a topic idea, don't be afraid to send it in. We may use your idea, which will get you proper credit as well.

Until next month,

Keep on Keepin' On!

If you enjoy the monthly carnivals, spread the word and help support the carnival as at grows:

Reminder:Be sure to check out The Eviscerated Gaming Podcast (on iTunes and Stitcher Radio) for your chance toWin a Gregarious Grell Loot Code Companion Pet. It's a pretty easy contest entry, just listen to the podcasts and leave us an iTunes review for a chance at winning!